A 30-year industry veteran who most recently served as a wealth advisor with CIBC Private Wealth Advisors has launched Burling Wealth Partners in Chicago with his son.

Mark Resnik's new firm has $750 million in assets under management, most of which came from his former relationships. He is joined by his son, Steven Resnik, who has spent the last 12 years in investment management with the last five in private equity.

“One of the things that’s been appealing about our firm is we have folks in their 30s, 40s and 50s working here,” Steven Resnik said “So we can serve our clients today, but we can also serve their next-in-line and the next for future generations to come. In that sense, we’re running a playbook that I’ll say is a little bit different than other firms.”

In addition to the Resniks, the firm’s founders and managing directors include Young Im, senior portfolio manager; Zachary Patzik, senior wealth advisor; and Abby Davis, client services.

As the firm grows, the Resniks said they believed that next-gen advisors like Patzik will be attracted to the firm because they can see a future for themselves as equity partners.

“I know this from my own experience, but when an advisor looks up and sees a private equity firm owns 90% of the company, there’s only so much equity and opportunity to go around,” Steven Resnik said. “That advisor’s destiny there is already set.”

Mark Resnik said he also has first-hand experience with working for a firm that was acquired. First when the firm he joined in 2005, Segall, Bryant & Hamill, was acquired by Thoma Bravo in 2014. And again, when he went to Geneva Advisors and it was acquired by CIBC in 2017.

“My previous two firms were acquired, one by a private equity firm, one by a large bank,” he said. “And I'll just say from my perspective, those are not the environments I thrive the best in.”

Setting up his own self-funded, independent RIA with his son was an ideal next-step, he said.

The backbone of the firm’s investment strategy can be found in a balance between fixed income and equities, but Steven Resnik said he sees private investment as being an important part of some portfolios.

“We do expect in 2025, 2026, and 2027 to be expanding our offerings to our clients as it relates to alternatives,” he said.

Besides attracting next-gen advisors to support their clients, the Resniks said they are also looking to grow by helping older advisors with succession.

“At my predecessor firms, there were way more way more advisors in their 50s, 60s and even 70s than there were in their 30s and 40s,” Mark Resnik said. “There was a clear, ongoing issue as to how that eventual passing on of clients was going to take place.”

He said he already knows a number of advisors in that position, and Burling could provide the real “next-gen” solution that can seem so elusive.

“I think we'll be able to provide them with an excellent system and process in which we will work together when they eventually decide it's time to do transition and succession planning,” he said.